Nexen Team Wins CANstruction Competition

The iconic Calgary Saddledome hockey arena built using 7,500 cans and boxes.

March 26, 2015

We’re on top!

The Nexen team that participated in this year’s Canstruction competition won the Juror’s Choice award, reflecting the highest number of points overall in all judging categories.

“This is simply awesome,” comments team co-captain Robin Gosling, Manager-Project Delivery. “The main driver behind getting involved in Canstruction is to raise food for the Calgary Food Bank, but it was also fun to compete against other oil companies by designing and constructing a display from food cans and boxes.”

Canstruction is an international competition where teams design and build structures following a given annual theme – this year, the theme was “iconic structures.” Teams have a 10' x 10' x 8' space and can use any combination of food tins and boxes. The results are spectacular. Participating entries are displayed as an art exhibit and judges award prizes for the best creations. At the end of the competition, all the food is donated to local food banks.

Nexen’s 14-person team, which began their work last October, had many initial ideas for a structure including a giant inukshuk, the ski jump at Canada Olympic Park, even the Sydney Opera House. They settled on designing a hockey arena modelled on the Calgary Saddledome, completed with seating, fans, and a Stanley Cup in the middle.

“One of our members was very good with 3-D design, which was certainly helpful for figuring out the placement of food cans for the rear wall of soup cans and the tuna Stanley Cup,” Robin says. “Plus we had to figure things out accurately so we could order the right number of cans and boxes.”

Nexen’s team went head-to-head with teams from other organizations during the “build” phase of the competition on March 19, with judging on March 20. The structure they created used more than 7,500 cans and boxes representing 50 different types of food. The competition took place at Calgary’s Southcentre Mall and exhibits will remain on display for a week. This is the third year Nexen has participated in this worthwhile and fun event.

“Congratulations everyone,” says Ashif Noorani, Senior Surface Apps Analyst. ”Excellent team work, plus we had lots of fun and made some friends along the way. Our structure definitely caught most of the attention at the mall.”

Supporting Communities

Nexen invests in the community by giving, matching and helping through our ReachOut program. Nexen matches employee and contractor donations up to $20,000 per year per person, for donations made to registered charitable and non-profit organizations. Also, eligible Nexen employees who volunteer 40 hours or more with a charitable / not-for-profit organization can apply for a grant to be paid to that organization ($1,000 for charitable / not-for-profit organizations and $250 for amateur sports organizations).